Importance

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Abstract

In order to delete commercial messages during the viewing and/or video tape recording of broadcast television signals a control circuit is disclosed for producing a commercial editing control signal at the beginning of one or more television commercial messages, which signal continues for the duration of such messages and terminates after the end of the last of such messages. The control circuit incorporates detection circuitry for automatically detecting each of a series of fade breaks in the video and audio components of the television signal, wherein such fade breaks normally mark the beginning and end of each of one or more commercial messages that have been inserted in the program content. The first of a series of detected fade breaks marks the beginning of a single commercial or the first commercial in a consecutive block of commercials, and succeeding fade breaks occur at time intervals that correspond to the durations of the commercial messages. Cooperating with the circuitry for detecting the series of fade breaks, is electrical timing circuitry which is triggered to cause the generation of the above-mentioned editing control signal. The timing circuitry has a time out interval that is selected to be just slightly longer than the maximum anticipated length of each of the consecutive commercial messages, and is retriggered each time another fade break is detected. A steady control signal is thus generated which continues until the timing circuitry is allowed to time out because of the absence of detected fade breaks, indicating the resumption of non-commercial program content. In the form of the control circuitry disclosed herein, the automatically generated control signal is used to operate a pause control on a video tape recorder for momentarily stopping the recorder during the occurrence of one or more consecutive commercial messages.

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First Claim